Born on September 26, 1976 in Columbus, Ohio, Tyler Denk works as a male model, and previously had to battle a drug addiction. His modeling career has brought him to many foreign lands, but his other interests include surfing and golfing. Moreover, Tyler sees himself as an athletic and smart individual. He presently appears on the packaging of some Hanes products and had a guest role in season 4 episode of . As of 2006, Tyler had been sober for nine years.

James Branaman, who was born on July 30, 1978, is also a recuperating drug addict and male model. Despite leading a life similar to that of Tyler's, James believes he is more capable of handling nerve-wracking situations than his best friend. Artistically-inclined, James is strongly interested in photography and painting.

Tyler and James have been through many life-changing experiences, and when they joined the tenth season of The Amazing Race, they proved to be one of the strongest teams in the competition. They started out well, having arrived first at end of leg 1, and were consequently awarded $20,000. They claimed two more pit stop prizes, one at the end of leg 10 (where the prize was a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico) and the other at the end of leg 11 (where the prize was a Sprint phone with a year's subscription for each member of the team). To add to their winnings, Tyler and James emerged as they ultimately won the AMAZING RACE 10 title and one million dollar prize over Rob and Kimberly because of their taxi driver that have E-Z Pass that allows them to jump into the lead ahead of Rob and Kimberly by a mere fraction of an hour.